


Just Pull It Out

by AHeartForStories



Series: AHeartForStories' Whumptober 2020 [6]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Swearing, Whump, Whumptober 2020, astrid whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:15:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26864263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHeartForStories/pseuds/AHeartForStories
Summary: Written for Whumptober Day 6. Pre-Httyd 2. Astrid has a little accident that ends in a trip to Gothi's. Hiccup has to help her treat his betrothed injury.
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson
Series: AHeartForStories' Whumptober 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949440
Comments: 5
Kudos: 41





	Just Pull It Out

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Whumptober Day 6 for the prompt: "Stop, please". Did a little Hiccstrid, because why not.
> 
> Constructive criticism is appreciated!  
> Enjoy!

"Ah, FUCK!" The swear Hiccup doesn't quite appreciate, but when he sees the reason why Astrid bellowed a shout loud enough to even scare the Terrible Terrors out of the treetops, he understands.

"Oh Gods, that doesn't look good." He states what she considers the obvious as he kneels next to her, having jumped out of the saddle the second he and Toothless had landed. Lying eyes on the injury now present on her person after the crash, he can't help but wince.

After crashing with Stormfly, there is now a branch sticking out of her thigh, the area surrounding it already an angry red. It's not bleeding, but that is because the branch is stopping the bleeding for now.

Astrid pushes herself up in a sitting position, gritting her teeth as she does so. Hiccup helps her. He would tell her to stay down until he's gotten a better look at it, but he knows her well enough to know she wouldn't listen to him.

Stormfly comes over and chirps apologetically at her Rider.

"It's okay, girl. Accidents happen." Astrid tells her dragon, petting her on the beak reassuringly.

"Okay, okay..." Hiccup mutters to himself as he tries to figure out what to do next.

He's not about to pull the branch out himself, lest the love of his life bleeds to death right here in the forests outside of Berk The best thing he can do now is stabilize it to the best of his ability, so it doesn't move on the way back to the village. Gothi needs to take a look at this one.

Astrid is patiently awaiting Hiccup's analysis of the situation, trusting his judgment on things medical as well. Ever since Dragon's Edge, Fishlegs has been their healer, but amongst the remaining Riders, Hiccup is second best.

She trembles because of the pain her thigh is in, but she keeps up her tough façade. She's a warrior and she's experienced injury before. No use crying over a minor accident such as this.

"Bud," Toothless comes when he's called, having been watching from the sidelines, and gives Hiccup access to their saddlebags.

"I'm gonna need to stabilize it," Hiccup tells her and takes out what he may need to get this done.

Grabbing dressings from the bag, he turns to the task at hand and gets to it. Once he's sure it's stable, they can go to Gothi to get this wound looked at and treated.

* * *

Flying to Gothi's wasn't the most pleasant of experiences, but Astrid didn't complain when Hiccup helped her mount Stormfly, as she was adamant in flying on her own dragon, and they took off towards the village.

Thankfully, it wasn't for very long, and soon enough, the two are in Gothi's shack, Astrid limping over to a stool with Hiccup supporting her on the way.

"Careful," A pained noise leaves her when Hiccup lowers her on her stool, telling her to mind her wound.

Sauntering over, staff tapping on the wooden floor, Gothi is at the perfect height to take a look at the affected area without needing to even lean down. Leaving her staff against the wall, she moves Astrid's thigh in a better position for her to see better and Astrid bites back a grunt.

She takes a good few moments, undoing Hiccup's work first, before coming to the conclusion that it actually looks quite good for an injury such as this.

Throwing two handfuls of sand on the floor, she tells the two as such.

"Oh, that's good to know," Hiccup says, sagging in relief.

"Okay, but how do we get it out?" Astrid asks. She would very much like to have that branch out of her body now.

"Eh, well..." Hiccup tells her, knowing what is to happen next. They all know it as, obviously, it needs to be removed somehow, but how to go about it is the question. Hiccup, having been Fishlegs' study buddy while the Ingerman studied under Gothi, knows a thing or two at least. This won't be pleasant.

Gothi writes in the sand what needs to happen next, how they're going to pull out the impaling object, see what the damage is now, and stitch accordingly. Astrid didn't look forward to step one, but she knows it needs to be done.

At Gothi's age, however, she doesn't quite have the strength to pull it out herself anymore. That leaves the perfect man for the job to be Hiccup as Astrid's pain response won't allow her to pull it out herself. It wouldn't be smart either, considering there are people around that can do it for her.

So with the hook of her staff, Gothi grabs Hiccup by the back of the neck to pull him down on a second stool.

"Ow, okay! Okay! I get it, I get it!" Taking a hint, Hiccup settles on it opposite to Astrid, his hands soon washed and clean of grime, his armbraces missing, and ready to pull a branch out of his future wife's thigh and hope they don't realize too late that a major blood vessel has been hit, causing her to bleed to death right after. Or about as ready as he can be.

Gothi gives him the all-clear and Astrid braces herself, holding onto her seat and her back leaning against a table standing behind her.

"You can do this. You're Fearless Astrid Hofferson, you can do this. This is nothing!" She says to herself, hyping herself up for what's to come. Hiccup waits for her, gaze meeting hers while his hands hover over the object.

After she feels like she has been sufficiently hyped up, Astrid wears her battle face and nods in determination.

Hiccup nods back, slightly less certain, and gently grabs hold of the shaft and her thigh. Just that already gets Astrid's leg to jerk in response, but her expression doesn't change, so Hiccup commits to pulling it out. There is a tiny, secondary branch annoyingly poking his palm as he does so.

The pain multiplies tenfold immediately and a hurt yelp leaves her, leg jerking further in response. Hiccup would tell her that it's going to be okay, but he's too focused on the task at hand to be able to.

He can't let her noises of pain deflate his resolve to help her. Out of the edges of his vision, he can see her trembling, can see her face change from one of determination to one of agony and he tries his best to ignore them in favor of doing a good job.

Not the easiest thing to do. That thing is really in there and he's afraid to use too much force and end up hurting her more.

Meanwhile, Astrid thought she could do it. She really thought she could take the burning agony, but it turns out to be too much, and her sense of dignity as a warrior has to step aside to let her want for it to stop through.

"STOP! Stop, please!" So she shouts and Hiccup immediately listens and lets go. Which he gets a smack on the head for from Gothi. She's all for patient comfort, but that branch could've been out of her already if he hadn't listened.

Hiccup gives her a non-apologetic look as he rubs the back of his head before looking back at Astrid.

"You okay?" He asks, to which she silently nods, breathing hard. She feels embarrassed for screaming like that.

"I'm fine, just... Just pull it out." She tells him, averting her gaze.

"Are you sure? We can wait a moment, let you take a breather." He suggests, but Astrid shakes her head stubbornly. The sooner it's out, the better, Gothi is right.

So he gets back to it and this time he wants to focus more on speed than care.

He still won't just rip it out of her, but he'll try to make it take less time than it did earlier.

And on the second try, it finally slides out of her with difficulty and a disgustingly meaty sound.

Dropping the considerably sized stick, Hiccup takes the cloth their healer hands to him and presses it against the wound. Blood is pouring out of it now and the cloth is quickly stained.

But the flow and the amount causes Gothi to believe that a simple couple of stitches will be enough. Another something Gothi makes Hiccup do. Either as punishment for his hesitation earlier or, perhaps, something else entirely.

Ah well, which Viking couple doesn't bond by stitching up each other's wounds?

If anything, Astrid is happy it's Hiccup treating her and not their healer. Gothi is great, but she isn't the most tender person around. At least with her own fiance, she knows she's in gentle hands.

Within the next hour, Astrid's wound is cleaned, sewn up, and dressed. All that remains is a healing broth with painkillers and she's all ready to go back home.

Hiccup helps her get there, acting as her support once more.

"And you're sure you're going to be okay?" He asks her as he helps her sit down on the step leading to the front door of her home.

"I'll be fine, Hiccup. You don't need to keep asking me that." She responds with fake irritation. The tired smile on her features speaks of how his concern for her warms her heart.

"Eh, I think I'll keep asking, just in case." Hiccup retorts, to which her smile widens.

"You want me to talk to your parents... or?" At this his mood changes slightly. The Hoffersons approve of their relationship and their engagement, but they make Hiccup nervous. Astrid blames her father's and her mother's tendency to be rough with him. In a "we love you and therefore you must endure our rough love" kind of way. Astrid definitely gets her way of showing affection from her parents.

"I'll talk with them. You take care of Stormfly because I don't think I can do that today." She offers to take the responsibility of telling her parents herself, so long as he cares for her Nadder in return, to which he agrees.

"Consider it done." Hiccup tells her and gets right to work, first removing his armor as it isn't really needed for this. Besides, it's getting late. He won't be doing much flying with Toothless anyway.

Astrid watches him take it all off and leave it with the Night Fury, who puts a foreleg on the pile so no mischievous Terrors will think to steal any of it while his Rider's back is turned to them. Toothless lies next to Astrid as she sits.

Though Astrid can be stubborn when it comes to her independence, it always feels nice to have Hiccup care for her. He does it in such a genuine way that she can't help but love.

The crutch Gothi has given her lands on the ground next to her as Astrid decides that her parents can wait. She's just going to take a moment to watch him work instead.


End file.
